Been thinking a lot about Morai's musings that the code name "Firebird" for Ahsoka S2 describes Ahsoka (not Sabine) and could be derived from the ballet of the same name.
Because as much as I want to believe- and have believed! And promoted! - that Firebird means Starbird which would mean that Sabine is getting a good chunk of character focus, I think that Morai might have a point.
Too often I forget that this show isn’t about Sabine.
Morai’s interpretation of the code name “Firebird” works - but only if they are specifically referring to the ballet and not the original fairy tale that it’s based on.
Which makes sense since we’ve already seen a version of the fairy tale that The Firebird is based on in the Loth Wolf episodes of late S4 of Rebels.
Across the many versions and translations, the general plot of the original fairy tale centers around Ivan and a magical Gray Wolf. Ivan’s main task is to retrieve the Firebird for his father, sometimes named Tsar Vyslav (sounding oddly like Tarre Vizsla), and along the way, with the Wolf’s help, he collects treasures and falls in love with a princess. Ivan is betrayed, loses everything, and dies before he can reach home; but thanks to the Gray Wolf, he is resurrected, leading to a Happy Ending with justice for his death, the return of his treasures, and his marriage to the Princess.
So the use of the code name “Firebird” for AS2 may indicate that they’re continuing the themes of that story but using a different adaptation, The Firebird ballet, in order to make Ahsoka, as the Firebird, the MC and the main Good Magic character since we no longer have the Gray Wolf. In a rare show of continuity, this would make AS2 an interesting tie in with Rebels.
Screenshots are below if you want to see where the two stories - Rebels and Ivan - seem to connect.
As previously mentioned here, Ezra and Sabine were established as Ivan and the Princess in Flight of the Defender.
All of the following book images and illustrations are from a children's book adaptation, The Tale of Tsarevich Ivan and Grey Wolf. There are many translations and adaptations - I read through several - but this one was the most quotable. The stories are not 1:1.
Ezra freeing the Firebird in exchange for protection.
In some versions, Ivan has to fight an evil wizard who is called the Deathless.
It saddens me everyday that Disney stopped adapting stories into animated movies. Cause like there are so many interesting mythological, legendary, folktale and fairy tale characters from different cultures/countries who are less known by big main stream media who deserve to have their stories adapted by Disney.
